Drake's "Wah Gwan Delilah" Feature Isn't Helping His Comeback

If the aftermath of beefing with Kendrick Lamar is “Grippy” and “Wah Gwan Delilah,” The Fall Off might need to be a joint J. Cole and Drake album. In other news today:

• Billboard Hot 100 📈 

• Drake’s “Wah Gwan Delilah” feature isn’t helping his comeback ❌ 

• Lil Yachty drops multiple surprises for fans on SoundCloud 🤯 

• Discover new music with the Rap Index 🔥 

• Industry Insights 🔎 

Billboard Hot 100

The above chart shows Billboard’s Hot 100 ranking for this week. The Hot 100 ranks songs based on streaming activity, radio airplay audience impressions, and sales data—all measured by Luminate.

“Not Like Us” and “Million Dollar Baby” are strong song of the summer contenders holding their spots at #2 and #3, respectively. Central Cee’s “BAND4BAND” with Lil Baby debuts at #22, and Kendrick’s “Euphoria” drops from #16 last week to #23.

“This gotta be AI, no way [Drake] got out the booth and said ‘yup, that’s the one,” sums up many reactions to Drake’s latest collaboration with comedian Snowd4y titled “Wah Gwan Delilah.” 

The Toronto edit of the beloved song “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s has been teased on Snowd4y’s Instagram since early May but officially dropped on June 3 with Drake as the surprise feature.

A far cry from the badman persona Drake embodied on “Family Matters,” post-beef life seems to have Drake spiraling.

First, he remixed the end credits to the Kendrick beef, also known as the BBL Drizzy beat on Sexyy Red’s “U My Everything,” which evoked equally poor reactions, and now this. If Kendrick’s the boogeyman, Drake is Chet Hanks on “Wah Gwan Delilah.”

When you’ve been called a “certified pedophile” on a #1 song that has thousands gleefully singing along in the club—it can’t get much worse. Or can it? Here’s our attempt at breaking down Drake’s moves since Kendrick eviscerated him on “Not Like Us.”

Is “Wah Gwan Delilah” real or AI?

The unserious lyrics, parodying everything that’s cringe about the culture of Drake’s hometown, have left many confused about whether or not the song is AI-generated. 

It wouldn’t be the first time Drake left fans guessing about the authenticity of an AI track. The viral 2023 song “Heart on My Sleeve” was initially mistaken as a real collaboration between Drake and the Weeknd, only to be revealed as fake when Universal Music issued a takedown order. 

Drake also intentionally employed AI in the Kendrick diss song “Taylor Made Freestyle” to use the vocals of Tupac and Snoop Dogg.

The song appears to be legit, Drake posted the track on his Instagram story with the caption “@snowd4y wake up the city,” seemingly confirming its existence without denying his willing involvement.

For non-Torontonians, what are they even saying in the song?

The Toronto accent has been mocked many times over on TikTok, but knowing the pronunciation does little to help decipher the Toronto man’s native tongue.

A fair amount of 6ix slang is derived from Jamaican Patois, such as “Wah Gwan” which is likened to “what’s up,” the preferred greeting instead of “hey there.” 

Drake’s verse is a Toronto love story in eight bars. He’s late because of bare (a lot) traffic. On the way, he showed Delilah’s IG to his friend, and he’s pissed (so cheesed) because his friend knows someone that slept with her (slapped).

She frequents the supper club Mademoiselle (it used to be a strip club, is all the context you need to know), and he’s sick (bent) over this discovery.

If you’re not from Toronto, your reaction probably looked something like this.

Is Drake good? 

Drake’s historically been skilled at using the internet and meme culture to his advantage, coming out with the last laugh. He leaned into the “21 can you do something for me” bit on his It’s All A Blur tour, but this feels like he’s flailing.

“Wah Gwan Delilah” could be interpreted as a response to the culture vulture allegations Kendrick echoed, but Drake leaned so far into the region he’s from that the joke only lands for those from Toronto. 

Self-depreciation is what makes most comedians funny, but Drake’s not a comedian, and “Wah Gwan Delilah” only strengthens Kendrick’s case for Drake needing lingo from Lil Baby and false street cred from 21 Savage.

Continuing his run of bad looks, Drake deleted “The Heart Pt. 6” from his IG almost as an acknowledgment that the diss song wasn’t his best.

Lil Yachty is just a man revisiting his roots. On June 2, he made fans aware that he dropped 14 new songs, “on the concrete leak system last night” which is really just his SoundCloud and the same platform he started his career on. 

The account has been around for years, with the first release, “Deep Down,” dropping in 2021. The 14 new songs include features from 21 Savage on “Part of the Plan” and Vory on “ROAMIN.”

There have been mixed reactions from those online about the sudden drop. 

“He can’t make a good song to save his life .. we all know why he’s relevant, but for some reason, some people think it’s the other way around,” X user Day26Blue tweeted. 

This was in response to Yachty sampling Drake and Future’s song “Diamonds Dancing” in his song of the same name. Yachty has been a longtime friend of Drake’s, speaking publicly about their relationship and defending him online. 

Someone may want to enlighten u/Day26Blue that his glorious king Drake has been exposed for heavily borrowing from Yachty’s pen. Namely, Yachty’s reference track for “Jumbotron Shit Popping,” which is eerily similar to Drake’s version.

X user flygodT tweeted that Yachty “dropped Drake’s next sound,” capitalizing on the ghostwriter jokes, while others like PhilT0303 voiced their confusion about the hate. “Why ppl hating in the comments? Boats goated,” they said. 

If anyone thinks Yachty’s goated, it’s James Blake. In an interview with Complex, Blake recently revealed that “Poland” is the song he loves but everyone hates, the last song that made him cry, and the song he plays during sex.

@complex

Clearly @jamesblake can't get enough of @lilyachty song "Poland" 😭 LINK IN BIO to watch our full #ComplexCover video with #JamesBlake and #LilYachty

The Rap Index ft. Eminem, Roddy Ricch, Veeze, LUCKI & More

The Rap Index is a way to follow and discover new music. Divided into 4 categories describing rap subgenres, songs are placed according to their style and sound—giving you a better idea of what songs will appeal to your musical taste. Only releases from the previous New Music Friday are included to help keep you up to date.

RapTV’s Ranking of Rap Index Songs

1. “Houdini” by Eminem (Listen on Spotify)

2. “Survivor’s Remorse” by Roddy Ricch (Listen on Spotify)

3. “Heavy On My Heart” by LUCKI (Listen on Spotify)

4. “SIDE EFFExT” by Homixide Gang, Lil Yachty (Listen on Spotify)

5. “Wanna Be (Remix)” by GloRilla, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B (Listen on Spotify)

6. “Pop Yo Shit” by Veeze (Listen on Spotify)

7. “Angels In The Sky” by Polo G (Listen on Spotify)

8. “Daylight” by Lancey Foux, Teezo Touchdown, Cash Cobain (Listen on Spotify)

• Travis Scott hit a big financial milestone. His Circus Maximus tour is the highest-grossing rap tour this year, earning nearly $96 million on his sold-out North American leg.

• Vince Staples is back on the road. Fresh off a season two announcement of The Vince Staples Show, the rapper is starting his Black in America tour with Baby Rose this fall.

• Diddy sells his majority stake in Revolt. In the company’s statement about the matter, they said they will continue to be Black-owned and operated.

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